Fiber and Mixed Media Art Supplies, Projects and Inspiration

Category Archives: Beads

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Happy Valentine’s Day! I wanted to share with you all some of my art quilts that feature hearts. Below, this features crazy quilt techniques, embellished with found objects. You can see my signature on this: created in 2005!

I’ve always appreciated this sentiment from Liz Kettle, from her Plethora of Pinked Hearts tutorial she shared with us years ago: “When I was in my formative art years, hearts were passé, trite and so unsophisticated [but] Somewhere along the way I realized that even if they were trite in the ‘serious’ art world I had fallen in love with them! I make my art to please myself these days, so even if the sophisticated shock artists of the world roll their eyes and dismiss me as trite… I am contented with my hearts.”

Pictured below, School of Fish is featured as an included project, with complete instructions on my wonky log cabin method. Plus, a closeup of one of the the wonderful hand-drawn fish by Jaka ended up as the cover star (see below) of my book!

This quilt was designed and created for our 2015 Row by Row Experience project, which had H2O as its theme. It was the topic of this post, where I expressed the unexpected difficulty in adding a new row to an already completed quilt!

Jaka is one of the most well known batik artists in Indonesia and his “postcard” quilts (9-up grid of animals and designs) are popular and versatile. To create the wonky log cabin strips in School of Fish, I combined our Batik Tambal Exclusive Batik with many Australian Aborigine designed fabrics — I love the play of patterns and colors.

My piano keys border method, included in the book, is pictured (right) in progress and was described in this post. Sisters (a portion of which is pictured here) began with the choice of an expressively painted panel by Bambang Dharmo. The border used silk pieces from our Silk Fat Quarter Assortment from India.

In addition to embroidery stitches, my book also teaches you the basics beading stitches. Batik Flowers, a quilt shown in this post (portion shown above) and included in the book, began with a floral batik panel by the very talented Hari Agung. As the book notes, “My idea was to use a variety of beads and stitching to create a hydrangea-type flower. I used the beading and stitching to extend beyond the doily and batik flower….” I used my yellow bead mix and Silamide thread to embellish this quilt.

Almost a decade ago Judy posted about creating fabric collage and we wanted to share this useful technique again for new readers, or those who missed it the first time around. She began her post writing about finding some surprise free time in her studio, and “really didn’t know what to do with myself.” Joking that she was steps away from having a perfectly clean and organized studio, she instead took the advice of fiber artist Beryl Taylor — start with making bits — and got to work playing with one of her favorite techniques.

Before Artistic Artifacts was a full blown web presence and a bricks and mortar store, I was known for my line of fabric jewelry, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets and pins (pictured above). These were sold at the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery located in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA.

I love to create collaged fabrics. It is relaxing to me, and I have many uses for it, whether cutting it into small bits for my pins or using it to build an art quilt. It’s a great process when you want to be creative but aren’t feeling the pull of a specific project, or if you only have a short period of time to work.

To begin my collaged fabrics, I pick one of the several drawers in my studio that hold scraps of fabric sorted by color and take it to my work surface or ironing board.

Next I cut a piece of Steam-A-Seam 2 approximately 12 in. 14 in. (Artistic Artifacts sells this by the yard, and Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 is available in a package of five 9 in. x 12 in. sheets.) These are double stick fusible webs, heat activated and pressure sensitive. The fusible is sticky and repositionable, so you can “play” with your design before permanently ironing. I love using Steam-A-Seam 2 for this technique since it holds the fabric scraps in place.

I peel one piece of the protective paper off and set it aside. Place the Steam-A-Seam 2 on your work surface, sticky side up. Begin by pulling scraps from your stash, iron them, (honestly, I guess you don’t really have to iron them!) place them on the Steam-A-Seam 2. You can cut them smaller or into shapes as you like. I start my fabric collage in the middle and work out towards the edges. You can begin anywhere you want!

The fabric scraps should be in one layer, with a minimal amount of overlap. Once your piece of Steam-A-Seam 2 is completely covered with scraps and you’re happy with it (remember, you can play with your positioning), replace the protective sheet of paper over it and iron to hold your scraps together as a sheet of collaged fabric. Pictured above is an example after first fusing.

At this point you will need to decide on your backing, depending on what project you plan to use your collaged fabric for. I use muslin if I’m making book or journal covers, and a heavyweight stablilizer such as Pellon 70 Peltex Sew-In Ultra Firm Stabilizer if I’m making postcards, artist trading cards (ATCs) and for my pins. Once you’ve selected your backing, peel off the remaining paper and place the fusible coated side down onto your backing. Iron it to finally fuse.

I then free-motion sew/quilt my fabric collage sheet. I sometimes choose to place yarns, ribbon, etc. on top, covering it with netting. I don’t worry if it moves around, this is a collage. I frequently have to cut the netting if I’m using it, because it gets caught on my machine foot, but it doesn’t matter! Choose your thread and head to your sewing machine to being the free motion stitching. The fabrics you used in your collage can help with your free motion simply by following the prints and designs already there. But anything goes, as you can see in my example above. Free motion ‘doodling’ is very freeing and a lot of fun!

Above you can see the reverse of one of my fabric collage pieces that has been free-motioned quilted. The white of the Peltex stabilizer I used is visible shows off my free motion doodling. Since I was going to cut this piece up and finish the back in additional steps, there was no need to have a visible backing fabric in place.

This finished art quilt by Judy Gula began with a fused and quilted base of collaged fabric scraps.

To make my fabric pins, I pull out my vintage buttons, beads, laces, etc., once the free motion stage is finished. I cut the collaged fabric sheet into various shapes and pieces to begin my pins, then start the layering and embellishing steps.

While the fabric collage process can be fast and fun, yes, these pins take a little longer than a free afternoon of found studio time! I face the back with ultrasuede, attach a pin backing (you can see the ultrasuede and pin backing in the photo that opened this post), and finish the edges, usually with rows of beading and beading stitches.

The black and white fabric collage pictured here was used to create the pins below. (You know my weakness for black and white fabrics!) In addition to vintage buttons, I used some wonderful buckles.

These are a lovely little piece of art in themselves, and if you don’t wear pins, they also make wonderful quilt or mixed media art embellishments or focal points. A gallery of some of my favorites (click to see larger views):

If you’re like me, one of the things you admire with the arrival of spring are the beautiful shades of green as new growth emerges. I focused on green with this art quilt, which I titled “The Lady in the Garden” and featured four years ago on this blog. I wanted to revisit it and again share insights into my process for creating a fiber collage/art quilt.

Over the last few years I have worked a lot with batiks and batik panels, to the point where I think some of my newer customers don’t realize my first and true love: working with vintage items! Many times a vintage photo is all it takes to spark my imagination. The Lady in the Garden, currently on display in the shop, began with a vintage black and white photo that I found and instantly loved.

I scanned it and then modified in Photoshop (you could also use Photoshop Elements or any photo editing program), choosing to colorize the photo with a green hue. I could have left it as is, but since I had visualized wonderful spring green leaves, I wanted to work monochromatically. You can do the same using your own favorite color with any favorite black and white or sepia photo. Once I had colorized my image, I printed it onto Transfer Artist Paper (TAP, developed by fiber artist Lesley Riley — unfortunately due to manufacturing changes this product is no longer available) and then transferred it to 70 wt. Lutradur. You could also print directly onto the Lutradur, or use another of the many products available to print a photo onto fabric. My final colorized image, ready to sew, is shown above, as well as a hint of materials that I thought I would incorporate into this art quilt.

I begin my design process by tossing the fabric and embellishments around. I knew I wanted to work with my hand dyed fabrics, and my vintage Trims and Laces. I just pull materials and lay them in a sorted pile. Then I walk away from it. Thus when I come back it after a break, I make my next choice with fresh eyes. Sometimes I have to do this several times each, adding and subtracting new fabrics and trims, until I finally see an arrangement that “clicks” and makes me smile.

My next step is to finalize my choices of embellishments. Some materials are selected very early in my process, while others are chosen after my main fabrics have been selected. Pictured above I have pulled materials including a mixture of green beads, pearls, vintage millinery trims, and hand dyed vintage trims pulled from one of my Inspiration Packs. Artistic Artifacts sells some great ribbon, including the popular Web Weave seen at the top of the above photo — a great way to add texture and color to any fiber or mixed media project. A substitute for the leaf trim shown above could be our leaf vine ribbon, available in regular or jumbo sizes.

Another art quilt in progress that featured beading. Beads come in such a variety of shapes, sizes and colors and add the perfect touch to fiber &mixed media projects.

And whenever possible I love to add some form of beading to my art quilts (detail of another project shown here). Beautiful beads add the perfect touch of color, shine and texture. The bead soup mixtures sold at Artistic Artifacts are the same ones that I use in my artwork and are an easy, inexpensive way to guarantee yourself a variety of bead sizes, styles and shades to enhance your jewelry, fiber and mixed media projects. These are favorites of Liz Kettle of Textile Evolution, author of First-Time Beading on Fabric: Learning to Bead in Nine Easy Lessons, my first recommendation for those who want to learn to embellish their quilts, decor and garments with beading. (Don’t let the “First Time” in the title fool you; this is a great resources even for those who have beading experience!) My favorite Tulip needles also come in beading versions of various sizes, flexible and easy to thread, with a rounded tip that does not split thread.

At the stage pictured above, I had worked on the focal point of the art quilt. At this point everything was stitched down in the center. My original decision was to not stitch the background, and I came to believe that I goofed by not doing so. Lesson learned, and I now know stitch the backing before layering my photo. In this project I did add quilting… but it would have been easier to do it earlier.

As I continued working, there ended up being differences from the materials I originally started with and thought I would use, which you can see in my completed art quilt photo at the beginning of this post. You can also view a larger image to see additional detail.

As pictured here, the vintage millinery used turned out to be beige, not peach. I used turquoise-colored beads, not green. The trims are darker than my original lighter choices. (Of course any unused materials aren’t discarded but go back into the stash, waiting for another project.)

I find that many times you can become paralyzed by the number of options possible when creating, and therefore end up completing nothing at all. There could have been a million options on how to create an art quilt with this —or any — photo as a a focal point. You just have to choose one and begin! As you see from my example, you may end up changing things along the way, but your end goal should simply be that you’re happy with your final product.

And I am! I like the essentially monochromatic color scheme, and The Lady in the Garden still makes me smile when I look at it. One of the key things I love about art quilts is that there are no rigid rules, except maybe just one: begin! Pick an inspiration point, take a look at your stash, and see where the creative process leads you.

Diane Herbort is visiting Artistic Artifacts (standing, above), teaching her Baubles, Dangles & Beads class. As she unpacked her supplies and samples setting up for class, we couldn’t help but snap a few quick photos of her artful bits and pieces.

From her website: “Traditional needle arts, always considered ‘women’s arts,’ are important to me, both as a source of inspiration and as skills that I can use and adapt to tell my story. I think of my quilts and collages as being sister artworks. They are all assembled from the same things: textiles, paper, embellishments and memories.”

“Being an unreformed collector, I gather bits and pieces that help me touch the past. Old postcards, buttons and bits of lace often become a part of my art. Other times, I simply need to have them around me. They possess a sense of age and mystery, of stories grasped only in fragmentary form, that I hope my work also holds.”

Diane will be teaching similar methods in her Crazy Techniques class on Saturday, October 8: “Start a small quilt or evening bag while exploring the ins and outs of crazy quilting. This versatile technique lends itself to a wide range of fabrics, plain or fancy…If you enjoy enriching the surface, machine or hand embroidery, beading and just about any other type of embellishment are all possibilities.“ Join us if you can!